Redondo Beach Company 1 of 4 Selected for Concept Study on Possible Mars Orbiter Mission

REDONDO BEACH, CA — A Redondo Beach company was one of 5 aerospace companies selected by NASA to conduct concept studies for a potential future Mars orbiter mission, the agency announced this month.

Such a mission would continue key capabilities including telecommunications and global high-resolution imaging in support of the agency’s Journey to Mars.

Among the companies selected for the four-month studies are:

• Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems in Redondo Beach, California;
• The Boeing Company in Huntington Beach, California;
• Lockheed Martin Space Systems in Denver;
• Orbital ATK in Dulles, Virginia; and
• Space Systems/Loral in Palo Alto, California.

“We’re excited to continue planning for the next decade of Mars exploration,” said Geoffrey Yoder, acting associate administrator for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington.

The concept studies will address how a potential new Mars orbiter mission could best provide communications, imaging and operational capabilities, NASA said. They also will assess the possibilities for supporting additional scientific instruments and functionalities, in addition to optical communications, according to the agency.

A report published six months ago by the Mars Exploration Program Analysis Group, an organization designed to provide input to NASA from the Mars research science community, laid out recommended science objectives for a Mars orbiter. These concept studies will assess the feasibility of these objectives, NASA said.

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena is managing the concept studies under the direction of the agency’s Mars Exploration Program.

NASA is on an ambitious Journey to Mars that includes sending humans to the Red Planet in the 2030s.

— Photo courtesy of NASA